Coking Coal Imports in India Reach Year-High in Dec'17 M-o-M
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In India, Coking Coal imports reached the highest in Dec'17 among all months in 2017. The imports during the month were up remarkably as the steel makers in the country had imported aggressively to stock the coal ahead of the New Year holidays that started in the third week of Dec'17, during which there was no supply.
In the last month of 2017, Coking Coal imports in the country had escalated to around 5.12 MnT, recording a rise of around 23.67% over that in Nov'17. The imports during the month also had surpassed the imports of around 3.97 MnT in Dec'17 by around 28.97%.
Source: CoalMint Research
Remarkably, the country's steel makers did not shy away from importing despite the coal prices in Australia--the prime international market--were significantly higher during the month.
A break-up of the countries of import shows that imports from Australia during the month were significantly higher, and that were mainly due to the stronger importing propensity among the country's steel makers.
| Quantity in MnT | |||
| ORIGIN | Dec'17 | Nov'17 | Change(%) |
| Australia | 4.2 | 3.20 | 31.25 |
| Canada | 0.12 | 0.30 | -60.00 |
| Russia | 0.2 | 0.20 | 0.00 |
| USA | 0.27 | 0.14 | 92.86 |
| Mozambique | 0.31 | 0.00 | NA |
| New Zealand | 0 | 0.20 | -100.00 |
| Others | 0.02 | 0.10 | -80.00 |
| TOTAL | 5.12 | 4.14 | 23.67 |
Source: CoalMint Research
During the month under consideration, the Paradip port had handled the highest volume of import traffic; followed by the Dhamra and Haldia ports.
Source: CoalMint Research
Imports of the coal will remain at highs in India as steel production is on the rise, and the domestic supply is inadequate.
